IRL: Goodyear regains points lead with victory in wild Texas race
13 June 1999
FORT WORTH, Texas - Scott Goodyear regained the Pep Boys Indy Racing League points lead with a victory at the Longhorn 500 presented by MCI WorldCom on Saturday evening at Texas Motor Speedway, winning by .888 of a second over Greg Ray.It was Goodyear's second victory of the season in the Pennzoil Panther G Force/Aurora/Goodyear, as he also won the MCI WorldCom 200 in March at Phoenix. Goodyear took the lead in the Pep Boys Indy Racing League points standings from Jeff Ward, 146-127, with his second career league victory.
"We had a great car this weekend," Goodyear said. "We were off a little in qualifying. We had great pit stops. We didn't get it done in Indy. We're chasing the championship."
Goodyear, from Carmel, Ind., averaged an event-record 151.177 mph and earned $134,700. He led 43 of the 208 laps, taking the lead for good from Sam Schmidt on Lap 166. Schmidt ended up third in the Sprint PCS-Unistar Auto Insurance G Force/Aurora/Firestone.
Ray led 56 laps in the Glidden-Menards Dallara/Aurora/Firestone - more than any driver. But he was slowed by a cracked cylinder head over the last 60 laps and never led after Lap 137.
Despite leading the last 43 laps, Goodyear had trouble shaking Ray. The field was bunched by the last caution period on Lap 179, when Tyce Carlson crashed between Turns 1 and 2.
Goodyear made an aggressive move on the restart on Lap 190 and opened a lead of about one second on Ray as both cars sliced through lapped traffic. Ray closed the gap inside of one second as laps counted down but never was closer than the final margin.
The finishing drive by Goodyear capped a wild affair in which two- and three-wide racing was common on the high-banked oval. The league's new 10,000-rpm rev limit helped to keep the gaps between competing cars close. There were 15 lead changes among nine drivers.
"This was a great show for the fans," Goodyear said. "We were wheel-to-wheel, four-strong and in the grass."
PPG Pole winner Mark Dismore finished eighth in the MCI WorldCom Dallara/Aurora/Goodyear, three laps down. Indianapolis 500 winner Kenny Brack was 13th in the A.J. Foyt-PowerTeam Racing Dallara/Aurora/Goodyear, six laps down.
The next Pep Boys Indy Racing League event is the Radisson 200 on June 27 at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo.
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QUOTEBOOK:
SCOTT GOODYEAR: (Winner, #4 Pennzoil Panther G Force/Aurora/Goodyear): "We were delighted, especially after Indy. This is obviously nice. We have chased the rest of the races. We were fast in every session. You have to manage tires here. Our last stop we made some changes. It was dynamite after that. We have no problems with tires whatsoever. The other things we are doing, I won't tell you. I was surprised that we were all bunched up at the beginning of the race." (About the next driver to earn first career league victory, Jeff Ward or Greg Ray): "I think both are strong, and there are really three with Davey Hamilton. Their whole package is coming together. Wardy is really fast. Greg Ray is fast." (About pass for lead): "(Sam) Schmidt went low, so I went to the high side, and I was able to keep my foot on the throttle through (Turns) 3 and 4. Sam got caught in traffic." (About racing with new rev limit of 10,000 rpm): "I think the thing is to put on a great show for the fans, and we certainly did that tonight. I was in the gear that hit the limiter at the start/finish line. I ran it as hard as I could and was flat-footed for the last 20 laps. This is a great track for racing." (About chasing Greg Ray): "I had to make Greg wonder what I was going to do. Greg has good experience, and you can trust him. We could run close, and that is a lot of fun."
GREG RAY: (Second place, #2 Glidden-Menards Dallara/Aurora/Firestone): "This is a track that pays dividends for aggression. That is right up my alley. All in all, we are real happy. You have to start somewhere to get some momentum. My phone has been ringing off the wall the last 10 days. 'Hey, can I get tickets?' I really feel the support. When you talk about the Indiana Pacers, Dallas Cowboys or Stars you talk about hometown advantage. Texas Motor Speedway has been great to me. I have a special relationship with (track general manager) Eddie Gossage and everyone here at the track. The sun was awful, especially in Turn 3. It is great to run at night. It makes the cars look flashy like they are from Las Vegas. It is more fun for the fans and fun for the drivers. Wow, these 1.5-mile ovals make for some really good racing. Just giddy-up and go. It was a lot of fun. Early on we had a great car. We had an excellent handling racecar. It was good for both (Sam Schmidt) and I. I felt really good in the car today. We cracked a cylinder head with about 60 laps to go and were down on power after that. But we certainly had the best car out there tonight in traffic. We finally finished a race and finished well. This is what we should have been doing all along. This Glidden-Team Menard has worked so hard all year long, but we've just had some rotten luck. We'll go into Colorado in a comfort zone now that we've put together a complete race. We'll definitely need to start winning some of these if we're going to figure in the point standings." (About rev limiters): "It makes drivers be patient. Like Sam said, it brought the back of the field to the front. The 300 less rpm has actually helped our motors, not hurt them. It's just that we have to go back and work with our setups to get everything just right with the new rev limit." (About tires): "Like the motto says: Firestones are fast, Firestones last."
SAM SCHMIDT: (Third place, #99 Sprint PCS-Unistar Auto Insurance G Force/Aurora/Firestone): "These fans should have enjoyed this race. It was a great race with a lot of side-by-side racing. The whole experience for Greg and I both was 180 degrees. This time last year we were still trying to find money and collect the money from Indy so we could get here. It was fun. I knew from early in the race that (Ray and Goodyear) had good cars. I think it was a good show. The cars were equal. I can remember several times going three-wide down the backstretch."
MARK DISMORE: (PPG Pole winner, finished eighth, #28 MCI WorldCom Dallara/Aurora/Goodyear): "The car had issues that we couldn't control. We gained in the points standings, but I'm very disappointed. We had a great car, but the problems with their tires really let us down. We had a race setup that just tore up the tires. For safety reasons, we backed off. It's really too bad we had these issues tonight. We've had a great car all weekend long, and I wanted to do well for myself and the Kelley Racing team."
KENNY BRACK: (Indianapolis 500 winner, finished 13th, #14 A.J. Foyt PowerTeam Racing Dallara/Aurora/Goodyear): "Obviously we lost a lot of positions because of the right rear blistering. We couldn't run more than 15 laps (before it would start to blister), and then I had to just reduce speed to maintain the rear tires."
JEFF WARD: (Points leader entering this event, finished 18th, #21 Yahoo!-MerchantOnline.com Dallara/Aurora/Goodyear): "The car was good. The tires heated up a little bit at the start. We thought they were a concern, so we were conservative. The car was perfect, and then we had the wheel-bearing problem. It was unfortunate. I enjoy the track. It is a fast track. The racing is good."
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TOP 10 IN PEP BOYS INDY RACING LEAGUE POINTS STANDINGS:
1. Scott Goodyear 146 2. Jeff Ward 127 3. Mark Dismore 97 4. Billy Boat 96 5. Eddie Cheever Jr. 89 6. Scott Sharp 85 7. Kenny Brack 83 8. Greg Ray 76 9. Buddy Lazier 74 10. Robbie Buhl 73
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